new to the interior.... where to start?

[ChryslerCruiser]

Ive done enough work around the outside and underside of a vehicle to be generally comfortable.

Never done any interior work. Looking for strategies that have worked for you, or a way of approaching this that does not become overwhelming..

The car smells musty after a rain. I want to remove the carpet and give it a proper cleaning, and hopefully get some idea as to where the water leak is coming from. Thinking that getting the carpet out, and being able to scrub and dry it properly will do a bunch to get rid of the smell. Suspect the insulation below the carpet will need to be replaced/upgraded.

To get the carpet out, it looks like the seats and door trim, come out. assuming the kick panels front and rear, and maybe the rear seat come out..?

Once the carpet is handled, I will address the area of the leak, and then deal with the headliner.

Is this a logical progression of workflow?

 

[Mikes5thAve]

Finding the leak is a must.
To remove the carpet the front and rear seats need to come out, the sill plates in each door, front seat belts unbolted, the kick plates under the dash. The door pillars you can usually get away with taking the screws out and pulling the panels away enough to get the carpet out. Also the panels that cover the rear seat belts.

In short anything that covers the carpet at all needs to be removed completely or enough to get the carpet out from under it and back in. It becomes obvious what needs to be removed once you start doing it and all of those parts are easy to figure out how to remove and put back in. Start by removing the seats and go from there.

 

[ChryslerCruiser]

Agreed that tracking down the leak is a high priority.

Thanks for the response I will start with the seats, kick plates/sill plates and go from there.

 

[Aspen500]

One semi-common leak area is the ends of the cowl, near the air intake to the HVAC. Check for rust holes. Water can leak in unseen and run under the carpet. With the carpet out, you may be able to spot a leak path where the water ran and left deposits. I'm not sure about Imperial (you have an Imperial, correct?) but other F/M/J coupe's have a problem where the 1/4 windows leak (also unseen until the damage is done), since they're glued in from the inside.

At work one of the worst things to see on an R/O is "check for water leak" or "carpet gets wet in heavy rain". Finding leaks can get frustrating, especially since the leak point and where the water is seen might be a long ways apart.

 

[Mikes5thAve]

Windshield is also very common for leak. Also down behind the kick plates.
With carpet put you should be able to run a hose around different areas while someone inside looks for drips and dampness.

 

[MoparDan]

Was the windshield ever replaced do you know? Mine started leaking after the windshield was replaced because they were really careless when they put it in

 

[ChryslerCruiser]

Was the windshield ever replaced do you know? Mine started leaking after the windshield was replaced because they were really careless when they put it in

Maybe... I have seen some broken glass under the drivers seat.. not sure if that is the front or side window... I have had the same experience with installed glass, creating a leak. Although that was on a car with rubber gaskets holding the windshield in..

 

[Aspen500]

Chances are it was a side glass that got broken. The windshield doesn't really break and leave debris (laminated glass), where the tempered glass of the side and rear windows will leave thousands of little not sharp pieces.

 

[ChryslerCruiser]

Chances are it was a side glass that got broken. The windshield doesn't really break and leave debris (laminated glass), where the tempered glass of the side and rear windows will leave thousands of little not sharp pieces.

Ok, now I understand why the drivers window is a little funky going down. Thank You for the insight Aspen500.

Need to address that at some point as well, but the leak and interior clean up comes first.

 

[Mikes5thAve]

Original windshields are also prone to leaking because of the old sealant drying out over time or if there is any rust.

 

[LSM360]

Yes, what Mikes5th wrote. Old sealant (not gasket) on windshield drying out is very common. After a rain you can reach up under dash and feel if it's wet up high toward firewall. When my windshield gasket dried out, I sat in drivers seat and put both feet up on windshield and gently pressed, and I could see whole windshield move with only slight pressure. When I removed trim and popped windshield out to clean out old sealant and replace, I was amazed at how easily that sucker popped out. I lucked out; no rust in the channel, but tons of dirt and debris, so it's easy to see how rust can happen in there.

Also check your firewall for any missing grommets, such as for the speedometer cable, etc. That will definitely also allow water in, and make sure you don't have a bunch of leaves and other junk built up in the cowl area where wiper linkage is.

 

[ChryslerCruiser]

Is the sealant some type of urethane? Ot are the front and rear window's using rubber gaskets with sealant as well?

 

[LSM360]

It was hard to tell what was in there. I think there was both? Maybe a butyl from factory. But I know when glass companies reseal them now they only use a sealant. Clean the channel real well, and then they run a even bead of sealant across the channel, and then carefully lay glass in. I checked with a glass guy I know. The glass companies have the benefit of the electric caulking guns so they run a real nice even bead of sealant.

 

[BudW]

On 4-door cars/wagons, have one person with a flashlight and another person inside of car. shine the light around each door frame and other look for light bleed through - which points to a weatherstripping issue or door alignment problem. sometimes this has to be done both directions (inside out and outside in).

On non-door issues, the thing to do is get someone inside car with flashlight and someone outside with a garden hose running water here, there and yonder (not under high pressure) and leak should be at least narrowed down to general area.

My wagon leaks under very heavy rain - and the reason (I presume) is improper assembly of (or rust) the air horn above the heater case in the cowl. The rain just goes down the through the heater instead of through the cowl drain flaps.

BudW

 

[ChryslerCruiser]

improper assembly of (or rust) the air horn above the heater case in the cowl. The rain just goes down the through the heater instead of through the cowl drain flaps.
View attachment 40294
BudW

This is good to know. I believe for my particular case the leak is coming from the rear half of the car, as it stayed dry over the winter and I had plastic covering the back half.. I have yet to dive into they little task of pulling the interior out...

 

[MoparDan]

My wagon leaks under very heavy rain - and the reason (I presume) is improper assembly of (or rust) the air horn above the heater case in the cowl. The rain just goes down the through the heater instead of through the cowl drain flaps.
View attachment 40294
BudW

That wagon is a no a/c car right? On mine the left air vent will also leak in heavy rain and sometimes not even that heavy if she's just parked, since your's would have a right side vent also, maybe that has something to do with the leak

 

[BudW]

The air horn is spot welded onto the firewall. Then sealant is spread around where the two pieces attach. I have looked inside of the cowl and the drains are not obstructed and no signs of rust - but can't see the air horns. Yes, the wagon is a no-A/C car - but drivers side is OK during heavy rain.

I thought about getting a borescope to verity my suspicion - but figured I'll be doing some major repairs to retrofit to A/C - I might wait until then and get it all done correctly, for there is nothing I can really do at this point.
BudW

 

[ZieglerSpeed]

On another subject, pardon me. I took my 84 D150 318 elect distrib apart (with cent adv), and when the vac adv can came out, a triangular (kinda) clip fell out and I think it holds the vac adv arm in place??? Any help would be apreciated. Tim Z.

 

[ChryslerCruiser]

Have a look at this article on distributor rebuilding there is a picture of a triangular clip and directions on the rebuild process

DusterIdiot’s distributor rebuild/recurve tutorial

 

[ZieglerSpeed]

Thank you for the info. The "star spring clip"